SoCon Football Comings 'n Goings
By Dave Droschak (Posted 8-26-08)

NO LINE
Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore today called his team “a huge underdog” heading to LSU this weekend, but in reality the traditional practice of no betting lines for games pitting I-A against I-AA teams held serve this week despite intense interest in the game. I logged on to several Las Vegas college football betting Web sites and there was no line for the first game ever between two defending national champs. Moore’s club has suffered a rash of minor preseason injuries that hampered fall camp, but star QB Armanti Edwards, who was banged up prior to last year’s Michigan upset, is as healthy as he’s ever been, according to Moore.

“The drive in there is an exciting thing for a 19-, 20- or 21-year-old guy and the same thing for an old coach,” Moore said of LSU’s Death Valley. “It’s exciting to have everybody hollering at you walking from the bus to the locker room, the tiger is down there where we enter the field – there is a lot of mystique and a great atmosphere to play in. How else would you approach a ball game like this but to have fun? But it’s like David and Goliath and we don’t have enough smooth stones up here in Boone.”

SU Prediction: LSU 34, Appalachian State 17

CONTRASTING OPPONENTS
No league in the country opens the season with as wide a contrast in opponents as the Southern Conference. It takes on three of the nation’s top teams with the likes of top-ranked Georgia, No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 7 LSU.  However, conference teams also play Shorter College, Webber International and Mars Hill. For the record, Shorter is a Southern Baptist school located in Rome, Ga.; Webber is a business school nestled along Crooked Lake 45 minutes from Disney World, and liberal arts college Mars Hill is outside of Asheville, N.C. None of those locations will be confused with powerhouse football addresses Athens, Norman or Baton Rouge.

ARMCHAIR COACHING
We’ve all sat in front of the TV one time or another and believed we could call a better game than the idiot coach, right? Well, now is your chance if you’re a fan of Western Carolina. The coaching staff of the school with a combined record of 3-19 over the past two seasons will be fielding offensive and defensive plays from fans for home games, picking one to implement each contest. First-year coach Dennis Wagner says the idea dates back to former Portland State and Boise State head coach Pokey Allen, who used fan’s plays in the 1980s.

“I thought it would a great thing here because we need to get the involvement of our community, our faculty and staff, and student body in our football team. We think it will create a lot of interest.”

Plays must be submitted by 10 p.m. Wednesday prior to a Saturday game in order to give the coaching staff time to pick the play they will use. The “Armchair Coaching Series” is sponsored by Wal-Mart. There are a series of prizes involved, including a 32-inch flat screen TV if your play goes for a TD, or a $1,000 shopping spree if your defensive call results in a score, including a safety.

FRIENDLY SKIES
Rodney Allison begins his sixth season as head coach at Chattanooga, but will engage in a “first” when he boards a plane with his club to play the Oklahoma Sooners. The Mocs have never been on a plane to play a game under Allison.

“I have flown to many, many games in my career but I’ve never had to worry about anything except getting on the plane. This is a little bit different,” Allison said. “We’re taking some boosters, some wives and different people and 76 players. It is a little bit of an issue we haven’t had to deal with here. It’s a different animal.”  

YOUTH IS SERVED
Georgia Southern has been fairly competitive against SEC schools through the years in the so-called “money games.” However, this may not have been the year to schedule Georgia. Sure, the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs are loaded, but Georgia Southern may be one of the youngest teams in the nation with 30 of its top 44 on the two-deep depth chart freshmen.

“It has kind of been a wild ride this camp for us,” said coach Chris Hatcher, who was 7-4 in his first season in Statesboro, Ga., last year. “We’ve had some great days where you looked around and thought you had a veteran squad, and then some days you feel like you are talking Chinese to the guys, and I can assure you we have nobody who is fluent in Chinese on our team.”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Some of those guys drink a lot,” Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore said in response to a question about some media outlets picking the Mountaineers to pull off another upset at LSU similar to Michigan. “That’s good coffee shop stuff and alumni stuff.”